Wed, 29 Mar 2006

V For Vendetta - ****

Okay, it's been more than 3 days now. . . .

I saw V For Vendetta recently. I liked it. But I liked it a lot more when I was walking out of the theater after the Rolling Stone's Street Fighting Man was playing over the credits. Since then, I've been not as amazed.

First, a disclaimer- I'd like this movie even if it was a pile o' poo, I'm a comic-kid, I like comic movies, comic books, etc. And I'm a big fan of Alan Moore. I liked V when it came out in book form long ago and had high hopes for this flick. But standing on it's own, I'm not sure it's the instant classic I had hoped it would be.

The bad thing is I only have vague feelings on why it's sliding down my ranking scale as time goes on. Mostly, because I thought part of it could've been tightened up in the story I think.

Was Natalie good? Yup, but why not just get a British actress?

Was Hugo Weaving good? Very very good. If an actor's that good without showing his face, then he's damn good.

What about John Hurt? Meh. Yes and no. He's always good, but here he's just on the giant TV screen(s) as a typical totalitarian baddie. I think he's only not on the TV/Monitor three times in the film- in a flashback to show his rise to power, "at home" crushing a glass of milk, and once during his demise. That last part is to show him stripped of his power, but it seemed to be anti-climatic because he never felt larger than life as an authoritarian figure, but more like the tiny wizard of Oz behind the scenes. Yeah yeah, I know some people could argue that last comparison- but if he really was the totalitarian ruler, he'd have more of a scary presence on and off the tv.

Stephen Rea was good. Actually, just about everyone was good. The dialogue was great too.

I think it's sliding on my opinion meter because I felt maybe it was overrated. Or maybe I'm just disappointed because it was damn good, but not perfect and I'm taking it out on the movie.

I dunno. Go see it and tell me what you think. It's a great fairy tale that lets the viewer get out of it what they want to.

Derek saw it last night. I liked his review and this line: "even though the ending was obvious -- the ride was well worth it."

29 Mar 12:27 | /movies | 4 comment(s)


Mon, 27 Mar 2006

Ugh

About two years ago or more, "Pridkett" was chatting on irc about RFID. I remember saying to him that for our imaginarycorporation that one of our first projects, or products rather, could be rfid-embedded chips. Casino chips, not potato or processors. Well, I should've acted on it- see here a jizzmodo link, although, as the commentors there note, I think it's already been done by the larger casinos.. . .

27 Mar 16:54 | /tech | 0 comment(s)


Primus

Angie wrote on her blog that she has coworkers who don't know who Primus is. WTF? I thought Apple people were cool. What gives? Are they too busy listening to a loop of Massive Attack's Oldest Hits? Sheesh.

In other news, Cory's a Big Brown Beaver, and Marc wishes he were Magnum PI.

Oh, and I put up some new pics from the weekend.

27 Mar 13:57 | /rants_and_raves | 3 comment(s)


Wed, 22 Mar 2006

Office Move

Uggh, they've delayed our office move again. Looks like mid-May now.

22 Mar 13:02 | /rants_and_raves | 2 comment(s)


Mon, 20 Mar 2006

TV

I thought I should set the record straight so my 3 tormentors commentors can at least have their facts straight when they make fun of me.

I do not have cable - but wouldn't mind getting it. But I hate comcast. I want a DirectTV thing, but my landlord told me that there's no roof access (I'd argue the legality of this with him, but I'm not that interested) so I would need to get cable instead. But again, I hate comcast. If I did have cable, I would have a DVR, either Tivo or my own MythBox. So, here's the channel rundown for you, assuming I have the rabbit-ears up:

Please note the above- NO NBC- although I have gotten the rabbit ears to pick it up on occasion, but it wasn't worth the trouble. SNL has sucked for YEARS and there's nothing else on- well Vegas but . . .

So, that's the rundown. Most of the time I'm either veggin' out watching one of the above or watching a DVD from Netflix.

20 Mar 13:01 | /general | 5 comment(s)


Wed, 15 Mar 2006

Worst Show EVAR

The Unit is one of the worst shows I've ever seen. At this point I just watch it so I can make fun of it. TV Squad has a better idea though- making a drinking game out of it.

Seriously, have you seen this shit? Damn, Mamet's really cruising on his (overrated) name.

Do you know *any* woman who would put up with that Stepford Wives B.S.? I don't. I should film a version of it with Angie as Scott Foley's wife. She'd kick the other women in the cooter the second they tried to mess with her furniture delivery.

I'll expound upon this more when I get some more time.. . .

This kind of post really makes me wish I had comments working on the site. I'll play with that again today and try to get it working.

15 Mar 11:31 | /rants_and_raves | 5 comment(s)


Mon, 13 Mar 2006

You Don't Know Jack

Jack Bauer once killed so many terrorists that at one point, the #5 CIA Most Wanted fugitive was an 18-year-old teenager in Malaysia who downloaded the movie Dodgeball.

While not as funny as the original Chuck Norris facts, the Jack Bauer Facts is amusing.

13 Mar 12:44 | /links | 0 comment(s)


Thu, 09 Mar 2006

In the News

Simon's been busy- my google alerts have been hitting my inbox more and more. Latest article here. Thaksin's in a bit o' hot water.

Ahmadinejad is odd. I don't know what to make of him. Did any of you see that video of him talking about his halo of light from when he addressed the UN? And is Iran still going to try to open their oil market this month, as rumored? And will it be Euro-based? (as in the currency, not countries)

Why the hell am I talking about that anyway? I dunno, I guess I've been reading too many news articles or financial articles in between work projects and as a way to hide from the rain.

Speaking of hiding from the rain- a good way to do it is with a small amount of Eagle Rare 17 Year Old. Thanks for the recommendation Todd.

09 Mar 10:43 | /news | 0 comment(s)


Tue, 07 Mar 2006

The P.C. Police Strike

Well, they haven't even played a game yet, but Houston 1836 has already changed their name to The Houston Dynamo.

The franchise was nicknamed Houston 1836 in reference to the city's founding. Some critics felt the name was anti-Mexican because that was also the year Texas gained its independence by defeating Mexico.

Yahoo! link

07 Mar 11:47 | /futbol | 0 comment(s)


Sat, 04 Mar 2006

The Battle Of Algiers - ****

Finally, a movie "review". Yup, I finally saw something decent that passed my 3DMT™.

The Battle of Algiers was a good flick. Very poignant for today's news. However, that's not the only reason to watch it. The story's good and interesting as are the film's techniques. By techniques I mean the framing of the plot (yes, normally I hate frame-tales, although this has a variation on that) and the character development. The other thing about the movie, is when you finish watching it, you'll immediately ask yourself- 'how the hell did they film that scene, or this scene and make it look so real?', and then you start googlin' to find out.

I'll try to stay out of the political poop but rent this movie, watch it, then read about the movie. It was very controversial for it's time: people were worried that it wasn't impartial as some production costs came from the Algerian government, some people thought it would stir up revolution/agitation, etc. Even in the very near past, people in our government have been watching it to see if they can learn anything useful from the movie in dealing with Iraq. The ironic thing is, if they think they can (learn in so much as in how to control the Iraqis), then they're missing the movie's message.

4 stars.

Sidenote- read the Ebert review (see link above), then read his original review from 1968 to contrast it. The 2004 review is pretty interesting in comparison.

04 Mar 12:19 | /movies | 0 comment(s)


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